‘Nayan surprised us by agreeing to do double role in Airaa’

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Nayanthara’s Airaa for which the actress in different makeovers for the first time in her career is scheduled to hit the screens on March 28.

The film directed by Sarjun has its screenplay by Priyanka Ravindran, one of the youngest writers in the industry, who tells us, “I had earlier penned the screenplay for Sarjun’s award-winning short film Maa. The producer of Airaa, Kotapadi Rajesh asked us if we had any good script in hand for Nayanthara.”

Priyanka had four scripts on hand, but it was be the script of Airaa that fit the bill for Nayanthara. “After brainstorming with Sarjun for three days, we made a few changes to the story. Later, Sarjun narrated it to Rajesh and he liked it. He put us on to Nayanthara, who also liked the script and then the film took off,” she adds. Airaa is the actress’ 63rd film in 15 years and the first time in which she plays a dual role. “When we narrated the script to Nayanthara she was impressed with the characters and surprisingly told Sarjun that she will play both of them. The film will show her in a modern look and as a village belle. They both are strangers to each other,” Priyanka opens up.

One of the ongoing debates in Tamil cinema is that a woman can write better women-centric stories than male writers and vice versa. But Priyanka says that she doesn’t believe in it. “Apart from Airaa, I have three more stories, which are all male-centric and will be on a par with Airaa. It is the content that matters when it comes to writing stories for a protagonist regardless of the gender. In fact, the best woman-centric films in Tamil cinema have come from a male director, which is the legendary KB Balachander,” she concludes.